PARALLEL, INTERCONNECTED NEURONS 21 



and also h are increased by the same multiplicative factor k , then a 



also is increased by the same factor k . But if <r alone, and not h , is 

 so increased, the resulting a is everywhere less than k times the origi- 

 nal a- . All these properties are intuitively evident from the character 

 of the mechanism. 



In general, this type of mechanism, in which the excitation at any 

 point is dependent upon the total distribution of excitation, is highly 

 suggestive of Gestalt-phenomena (Rashevsky, 1938, chap, xxxii). Ap- 

 plications of mechanisms involving parallel interconnected neurons 

 will be made in chapter ix to discriminal sequences of stimulus and 

 response, and again in chapter xii to the perception of color. 



